Huffington, in December 2004 a shadow of the digital media doyenne she is today, wanted to win back the White House for the Democratic party – and had brought together her most powerful friends to try and do so. The Huffington Post was born within five months.

But six years later, that scene threatens to be revisited in a courtroom drama, as two of those present at the meeting have claimed ownership of what is now one of the most influential political presences online.

Peter Daou and James Boyce, both former media strategists for the Democratic party, claim Huffington and fellow HuffPo co-founder Ken Lerer stole their idea for a "liberal Drudge" which would propel the ailing party back into the corridors of power. Daou and Boyce filed their lawsuit against their "former partners" in November last year.

Huffington and Lerer have always dismissed the claim, and have until 19 January to formally respond to the complaint in court.

More details of the meeting have come to light in a Vanity Fair piece, an exhaustive feature on the legal battle and its claimants – and their 15-page document which they claim is a "blueprint" for the Huffington Post. While being their "strongest argument" for having had a role in creating HuffPo, to call it a blueprint is an "exaggeration", according to Vanity Fair writer William D Cohan.

"A third of the proposal recounts the successes of the Kerry campaign in using the internet and the corresponding success of the Republicans with the Drudge Report. Much of the rest merely describes ideas about the internet that were much in circulation at the time," he wrote.

But why have Boyce and Daou left it six years to raise their complaint? Daou has "stewed for some time" about his perceived lack of credit for HuffPo, but a recent Wired article on Andrew Breitbart, a former editor of the Drudge Report, was apparently the straw that broke the camel's back.

In it, Breitbart claimed that he was a central figure in the genesis of HuffPo. "I created the Huffington Post," he said. "I drafted the plan. They followed the plan."

At this point, Daou simply exploded. "I was reading about Breitbart. And I hit that part and I said, 'You know, damn, this is the last straw,'" he told Vanity Fair. "[Huffington and Lerer] had claimed credit before and every time it just burned. It was like 'Really? Are you completely erasing us from so essential a part as to how this whole thing came about?'"

There followed a handful of emails between Daou and Huffington, in which the pair claimed they were simply "seeking closure" and that there should be "some recognition of our role in the process". Huffington was bemused. "I'm so sorry but there's nothing left for me to say," she emailed Daou, before directing him to her lawyer on 25 September 2010.

It's a colourful piece, worth reading in full – despite Huffington and Lerer refusing to comment for it. Their silence is likely to be short-lived, however, as the lawsuit requires a formal response during the next fortnight.